PHPMailer puts almost every PHP CMS at risk, the Fancy Bear Android Malware that has a complicated past & the new botnet that likes brag.

Plus great questions, a packed round up & much, much more!

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Show Notes:

Patch Your Sh** T-Shirt

  • TechSNAP is about to reach episode 300 so before Chris and Allan hand over the show to Wes & Dan we have a round of PATCH YOUR SH** swag to get out! Be sure to check out the tote bag and the sticker too!

Exploit in PHPMailer puts almost every PHP CMS at risk

  • “PHPMailer continues to be the world’s most popular transport class, with an estimated 9 million users worldwide. Downloads continue at a significant pace daily.”
  • “Probably the world’s most popular code for sending email from PHP! Used by many open-source projects: WordPress, Drupal, 1CRM, SugarCRM, [..], Joomla! and many more”
  • “An independent researcher uncovered a critical vulnerability in PHPMailer that could potentially be used by (unauthenticated) remote attackers to achieve remote arbitrary code execution in the context of the web server user and remotely compromise the target web application.”
  • “To exploit the vulnerability an attacker could target common website components such as contact/feedback forms, registration forms, password email resets and others that send out emails with the help of a vulnerable version of the PHPMailer class.”
  • “A successful exploitation could let remote attackers to gain access to the target server in the context of the web server account which could lead to a full compromise of the web application.”
  • When the mailer software calls the system’s sendmail binary to send the email, it can optionally pass additional parameters to sendmail, like -f to override the from address.
  • Proper input validation was not performed on this input. Instead of the content being restricted based on what is safe to evaluate in the shell, the input is validated as an email address via RFC 3696, which allows for quoted usernames with spaces.
  • So if the attacker fills out the form such that their email address is:
  • “attacker\” -oQ/tmp/ -X/var/www/cache/phpcode.php some”@email.com
  • this will actually execute:
  • Arg no. 0 == [/usr/sbin/sendmail]
    • Arg no. 1 == [-t]
    • Arg no. 2 == [-i]
    • Arg no. 3 == [-fattacker]
    • Arg no. 4 == [-oQ/tmp/]
    • Arg no. 5 == [-X/var/www/cache/phpcode.php]
    • Arg no. 6 == [some”@email.com]
  • If the attacker can also provide some PHP code as the body of the message, it will be written to the indicated file, phpcode.php, where it can then be run by the attacker via the web server.
  • “The vulnerability was responsibly disclosed to PHPMailer vendor. The vendor released a critical security release of PHPMailer 5.2.18 to fix the issue as notified”
  • “UPDATE: The author of this advisory published a bypass of the current solution/fix which makes the PHPMailer vulnerable again in versions <5.2.20”
  • There was also a similar vulnerability found in SwiftMailer, another similar application

Use of Fancy Bear Android Malware in Tracking of Ukrainian Field Artillery Units

  • “From late 2014 and through 2016, FANCY BEAR X-Agent implant was covertly distributed on Ukrainian military forums within a legitimate Android application developed by Ukrainian artillery officer Yaroslav Sherstuk”
  • “The original application enabled artillery forces to more rapidly process targeting data for the Soviet-era D-30 Howitzer employed by Ukrainian artillery forces reducing targeting time from minutes to under 15 seconds. According to Sherstuk’s interviews with the press, over 9000 artillery personnel have been using the application in Ukrainian military”
  • “Successful deployment of the FANCY BEAR malware within this application may have facilitated reconnaissance against Ukrainian troops. The ability of this malware to retrieve communications and gross locational data from an infected device makes it an attractive way to identify the general location of Ukrainian artillery forces and engage them”
  • “Open source reporting indicates that Ukrainian artillery forces have lost over 50% of their weapons in the 2 years of conflict and over 80% of D-30 howitzers, the highest percentage of loss of any other artillery pieces in Ukraine’s arsenal”
  • “This previously unseen variant of X-Agent represents FANCY BEAR’s expansion in mobile malware development from iOS-capable implants to Android devices, and reveals one more component of the broad spectrum approach to cyber operations taken by Russia-based actors in the war in Ukraine”
  • “The collection of such tactical artillery force positioning intelligence by FANCY BEAR further supports CrowdStrike’s previous assessments that FANCY BEAR is likely affiliated with the Russian military intelligence (GRU), and works closely with Russian military forces operating in Eastern Ukraine and its border regions in Russia”
  • “The original application central to this discussion, Попр-Д30.apk, was initially developed domestically within Ukraine by a member of the 55th Artillery Brigade. Based on the file creation timestamps as well as the app signing process, which occurred on 28 March 2013, CrowdStrike has determined that the app was developed sometime between 20 February and 13 April 2013.”
  • Distributed on a forum, and popularized via social media under a name that translates to “Correction-D30”, described as “Modern combat software”
  • “As an additional control measure, the program was only activated for
    use after the developer was contacted and issued a code to the individual
    downloading the application”
  • “At the time of this writing, it is unclear to what degree and for how long this specific application was utilized by the entirety of the Ukrainian Artillery Forces. Based on open source reporting, social media posts, and video evidence, CrowdStrike assesses that Попр-Д30.apk was potentially used through 2016 by at least one artillery unit operating in eastern Ukraine”
  • “The use of the X-Agent implant in the original Попр-Д30.apk application appears to be the first observed case of FANCY BEAR malware developed for the Android mobile platform. On 21 December 2014 the malicious variant of the Android application was first observed in limited public distribution on a Russian language, Ukrainian military forum.”
  • “The creation of an application that targets some of the front line forces pivotal in Ukrainian defense on the eastern front would likely be a high priority for Russian adversary malware developers seeking to turn the tide of the conflict in their favor”
  • “Although traditional overhead intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) assets were likely still needed to finalize tactical movements, the ability of this application to retrieve communications and gross locational data from infected devices, could provide insight for further planning, coordination, and tasking of ISR, artillery assets, and fighting forces.”
  • “The X-Agent Android variant does not exhibit a destructive function and does not interfere with the function of the original Попр-Д30.apk application. Therefore, CrowdStrike Intelligence has assessed that the likely role of this malware is strategic in nature. The capability of the malware includes gaining access to contacts, Short Message Service (SMS) text messages, call logs, and internet data, and FANCY BEAR would likely leverage this information for its intelligence and planning value.”
  • “CrowdStrike Intelligence assesses a tool such as this has the potential ability to map out a unit’s composition and hierarchy, determine their plans, and even triangulate their approximate location. This type of strategic analysis can enable the identification of zones in which troops are operating and help prioritize assets within those zones for future targeting”
  • The Evidence to Prove the Russian Hack

Bigger than Miria? New leet botnet launches ddos attacks

  • “Earlier in the year, a huge DDoS attack was launched on Krebs on Security. Analysis showed that the attack pelted servers with 620 Gbps, and there were fears that the release of the Mirai source code used to launch the assault would lead to a rise in large-scale DDoS attacks. Welcome Leet Botnet.”
  • “In the run-up to Christmas, security firm Imperva managed to fend off a 650 Gbps DDoS attack. But this was nothing to do with Mirai; it is a completely new form of malware, but is described as “just as powerful as the most dangerous one to date”. The concern for 2017 is that “it’s about to get a lot worse”.”
  • “Clearly proud of the work put into the malware, the creator or creators saw fit to sign it. Analysis of the attack showed that the TCP Options header of the SYN packets used spelled out l33t, hence the Leet Botnet name.”
  • “The attack itself took place on 21 December, but details of what happened are only just starting to come out. It targeted a number of IP addresses, and Imperva speculates that a single customer was not targeted because of an inability to resolve specific IP addresses due to the company’s proxies. One wave of the attack generated 650 Gbps of traffic — or more than 150 million packets per second.”
  • “Despite attempting to analyze the attack, Imperva has been unable to determine where it originated from, but the company notes that it used a combination of both small and large payloads to “clog network pipes and bring down network switches”. While the Mirai attacks worked by firing randomly generated strings of characters to generate traffic, in the case of Leet Botnet the malware was accessing local files and using scrambled versions of the compromised content as its payload. Imperva describes the attack as “a mishmash of pulverized system files from thousands upon thousands of compromised devices”. What’s the reason for using this particular method?”
  • “Besides painting a cool mental image, this attack method serves a practical purpose. Specifically, it makes for an effective obfuscation technique that can be used to produce an unlimited number of extremely randomized payloads. Using these payloads, an offender can circumvent signature-based security systems that mitigate attacks by identifying similarities in the content of network packets.”
  • “While in this instance Imperva was able to mitigate the attack, the company says that Leet Botnet is “a sign of things to come”. Brace yourself for a messy 2017…”
  • Technical Details
  • “The attack began around 10:55 AM on December 21, targeting several anycasted IPs on the Imperva Incapsula network.”
  • “It’s hard to say why this attack didn’t focus on a specific customer. Most likely, it was the result of the offender not being able to resolve the IP address of his actual victim, which was masked by Incapsula proxies. And so, lacking any better option, the offender turned his attention to the service that stood between him and his target.”
  • “The first DDoS burst lasted roughly 20 minutes, peaking at 400 Gbps. Failing to make a dent, the offender regrouped and came back for a second round. This time enough botnet “muscle” to generate a 650 Gbps DDoS flood of more than 150 million packets per second (Mpps)”
  • “Both attack bursts originated from spoofed IPs, making it impossible to trace the botnet’s actual geo-location or learn anything about the nature of the attacking devices.”
  • So, unlike Mirai, it seems leet depends on reflection and amplification, rather than raw power
  • The attack traffic was generated by two different SYN payloads:
  • Regular-sized SYN packets, ranging from 44 to 60 bytes in size
  • Abnormally large SYN packets, ranging from 799 to 936 bytes in size
  • “The former was used to achieve high Mpps packet rates, while the latter was employed to scale up the attack’s capacity to 650 Gbps.”
  • Additional Coverage

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